


In Too Deep

by BlueSkyFirefly



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 12:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15582366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueSkyFirefly/pseuds/BlueSkyFirefly
Summary: AU: Dejan Lovren is a merman, and has fallen in love with a human.





	1. Chapter 1

“Dejan, don’t go up there.”

It was a warning the merman had heard a hundred times when hearing human voices above, and usually he heeded it, staying far enough below the surface to be invisible as he tried to listen to their songs, occasionally having to take off and hide when they decided to jump in.

This time, though… this time something was different. He couldn’t hear much of what the voice was saying, but he knew he had to see the person it belonged to.

“ _Dejan!_ ” yelled his younger brother in a last ditch attempt to stop him, but it was too late. All he could see was Dejan’s long, shimmering blue tail as he broke the surface.

As soon as he did so, he could see a boat, closer than he thought it would be. Dejan instinctively ducked his head under the water again, before replaying the image in his mind and realising all of the humans had been looking at each other, and not out at the water. He slowly raised his head and shoulders out of the water again, and looked at them.

He could still hear the voice he’d heard before, the one that had charmed him to the surface, and after a few seconds of observation he figured out who it belonged to. The man was significantly smaller and more slender than Dejan – many humans were, but this one appeared to be smaller than most of his fellow men on the boat – and had wavy locks of golden hair. _Is it really possible to spin hair from gold?_ wondered Dejan. _It must be. It would appear this man has._

The man was, if possible, even more beautiful than his voice. He had the flawless, chiselled face of the marble sculptures that occasionally made their way to the seabed, but without the coldness. He had a radiant smile and, from what Dejan could see, beautiful kind eyes.

When Dejan finally tore his eyes from the vision with the golden hair, he felt his heart drop. One of the other humans, a taller man with dark curly hair and more tattoos than Dejan himself, was staring right at him. The merman froze, unsure of what he should do. He raised one finger to his lips in a “shh” signal, and the man nodded subtly.

He lifted a bottle from a cooler, and Dejan watched as he wrote something on it using a black pen – he’d seen enough discarded ones to know they were called “markers” – then looked back out at Dejan. Suddenly he yelled something in a language Dejan didn’t recognise, and pointed in the opposite direction. All of the men on the boat – including the small, beautiful one – turned to look in the direction he’d pointed in, and he took the opportunity to gesture to Dejan before launching the bottle into the ocean.

Dejan, knowing it would be risky to spend any more time above the surface, saluted the man then dived back under the water, chasing the bottle that he knew carried a message.

 He caught it halfway down to the seabed, but as soon as he grabbed it, it was snatched from him by his brother. “You’re going to give mother a heart attack, Dejo,” the young merman sighed. “Seriously, first going up there when there’s a whole bunch of them, now bringing messages down here?!”

Dejan sighed. “Please,” he said weakly, holding out his hand. “Whatever that says might give me some connection to him.”

“Him?”

He closed his eyes as his mother swam out of the shadows.

“Who is ‘him’?”

Dejan knew lying to his mother was futile. “A man. A… a human. At least I think he is, but he looks like he’s made of marble, and his hair is almost certainly spun gold, and his voice-“

He stopped as his mother turned her back.

After a few seconds, she turned back to face her sons. “Davor, give him the bottle,” she said quietly.

“But-“ protested the younger brother, however he quickly realised that his mother was serious, and reluctantly handed his brother the bottle.

“ _Dear Mer-person_ ”, he read out loud. “ _I just want to talk. Come to the pier at 10pm. I promise I will be alone. S- Same? Seem?_ ”

His mother raised an eyebrow, and he showed her the message. “Look. It’s like an S with a symbol above it. Then I-M-E. That must be his name. The decorated one, that is, not… not the perfect one.”

Davor sighed. “That’s the most obvious trap I’ve ever seen,” he grumbled.

“Your brother has a point, Dejan,” said his mother, but Dejan shook his head.

“He was… he was good. I don’t know how I know, but I do. He distracted the other humans while he sent me this message, and he smiled and… I don’t know why, but I trust him. I have to do this, this person is my only link to _him_.”

Dejan’s mother grimaced. “If you’re sure,” she said. “You know your father has that pocket watch the sea witch enchanted, that tells land-time. I’ll get it for you, so you’ll know when it’s 10pm. And please be back by midnight, baby, I don’t want to be up all night worrying that they’ve trapped you or something awful.”

Dejan hugged his mother tight. “Thank you,” he whispered, kissing her on the cheek.

After his father brought him the watch – and with it a stern warning- Dejan disappeared into his own world. He swam in circles, staring at the watch as the hands seemed to move in slow motion. The words of every sonnet and love song he’d ever heard swirled in his mind, suddenly all making sense. _Shit_ , he thought to himself in a moment of clarity. _I think I’m in love with him_.

After what felt like an eternity, the little pocket watch showed that it was almost 10pm. Dejan hugged each of his family tight, more aware of the risks than he’d ever let them know, and disappeared into the dark waters towards the pier.


	2. Chapter 2

When Dejan knew he was close to the pier, he surfaced, and saw that the man was indeed alone, sitting on the edge of the pier with his legs dangling over, bare feet in the water.

The merman approached cautiously, staying low and moving with the waves, observing his human counterpart. As he got closer, he realised the man was fidgeting, biting his lip and overall seemed just as nervous as Dejan himself, maybe even more so.

Dejan contemplated swimming up beneath the pier and grabbing the man by his ankles, but, not knowing whether he shared his mischievous sense of humour, decided against it. However, he found his idea amusing, and involuntarily let out a snort of laughter, which caught the attention of the man on the pier.

“Hey!” he grinned as Dejan swam towards him. “I thought you weren’t coming!”

Dejan returned his smile, and pulled himself up, putting the pocket watch and the man’s glass bottle on the pier before resting his elbows on the wood and looking up. “Well, here I am. I’m Dejan,” he said, extending his hand.

The man took his hand and shook it warmly. “Šime Vrsaljko,” he said.

“So that’s how you say it! Shee-meh,” sounded out Dejan. “I’ve never heard it before. I wasn’t sure.”

But Šime wasn’t listening. He was staring, mesmerised, at Dejan’s tail glistening in the moonlit water.

“Dejan…” he breathed. “Are you really… I mean I can see you are, but…”

“You just need to hear it out loud,” chuckled Dejan. “Yes, I’m a merman.”

Neither one knew how to break the silence that followed until Dejan gestured to the glass bottle sitting next to Šime. “I brought your bottle back,” he explained. “I wasn’t sure if you needed the potion that’s in it.”

“Potion?” asked Šime, brow furrowed. “Well, I suppose it is, sort of. It’s called rakija, would you like to try some? I’d assumed you’d drink it, but now I think about it, that doesn’t make much sense. Sorry. I’m still very new to this.” Dejan saw a hint of a smile at the corners of Šime’s lips.

Šime took the bottle and opened it before offering it to Dejan, who took a huge swig before coughing frantically, spitting most of it into the ocean while Šime watched, helpless with laughter. “Not like that, budalo jedna!” he laughed, and soon Dejan was laughing too.

With the ice broken, the two talked like old friends, comparing tattoos and swapping tales from their respective homes; the sea and the land.

Eventually, Šime decided to ask the question that was eating away at him. “If merpeople are scared of humans, why are you here? More to the point, why were you there, watching us?”

Dejan barely registered the question as he opened his watch and saw that he had less than a minute until midnight. “Oh, no,” he gasped. “It’s midnight. I have to go.”

Šime laughed. “Is it like a Cinderella thing? You’ll turn back into a squid or something at midnight?”

Dejan frowned. “What’s a Cinderella? Why would I be a squid? I’m sorry – you can explain next time. If you want to talk more, come back tomorrow at the same time. My family will worry if I don’t go now. Bye, Šime!”

As Dejan dived back beneath the surface, he heard Šime calling “see you tomorrow,” and smiled to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

The next evening, Dejan made his way back to the pier. However, when he looked up, Šime wasn’t there. As he waited, he began to wonder if the pocket watch had somehow stopped working, or if his brother had changed the time, but after seeing that the moon was in the same position as the night before, he resigned himself to the fact that Šime simply hadn’t turned up.

He occupied himself by diving and surfacing repeatedly, splashing the end of his tail impatiently against the surface of the water. Eventually, becoming increasingly worried at the prospect of losing his only link to the one he loved, Dejan called out.

“ŠIME?!” he cried. “GDJE SI? NEMA TE!”

He took a deep breath and, in an act of desperation, yelled at the top of his voice the one thing he knew would point to him if Šime was within earshot, the phrase they’d laughed so hard at last night, the phrase Dejan had repeated to his family ad nauseam this morning. “ ** _AJ LAAAJK!_** ”

Dejan felt tears sting his eyes as he accepted there wasn’t going to be a response. He turned and swam away slowly, keeping his head above water, telling himself it was because he liked the moonlight on the waves, knowing deep down it was so that he could hear- “AJ LAJK!”

Dejan froze, unsure if he actually heard it or if it was in his mind. The second time was louder and unmistakable, and Dejan turned and sped through the water towards Šime.

“Praise be to Poseidon,” he gasped, pulling himself up on the pier to sit next to his new friend.

“I know,” said Šime with an apologetic smile. “I thought one of my teammates was following me, and I couldn’t risk…”

“Them seeing this,” nodded Dejan, flicking the water with the end of his tail while gesturing to it.

“Exa-“ began Šime, but he was cut off by a strangled gasp from behind them. Dejan dived into the water, before slowly surfacing. He was faced with a stammering Šime, attempting to come up with a lie to tell a tall, slim man with long blonde hair.

Dejan closed his eyes and, realising he had no other choice, cleared his throat loudly. “May I?” he asked, and Šime nodded.

“My name is Dejan,” he told the tall man, who simply nodded and sat down slowly, cross legged on the pier.

“Šime, is this a prank?” he asked quietly.

“It isn’t,” said Dejan. “Please, I don’t know you, but if you’re a friend of Šime you’re a good person. Don’t tell anyone about this, you could endanger me. All of us.”

“There are more of you?!” asked the man in a whisper, and Dejan laughed.

“Yes, sir. Of course. Just as there are more of you.”

The blond man nodded, still struggling to process the sight in front of him.

“I’m Domagoj Vida, but you can call me Domo. And you can trust me.”

“You can,” said Šime, placing a hand on Domo’s shoulder. “He’s a bit of a clown, but he has a good heart.”

Domo chuckled. “I can’t believe it took this to get there, but I believe you just said something nice about me, Mr. Vrsaljko!”

Šime shook his head and hugged his teammate tight. “Domo, do you mind going back to the hotel? I just want to talk to Dejan for a bit.”

Domagoj nodded and walked slowly into the distance, back to the hotel to figure out what the hell he’d just seen, and Šime and Dejan finally turned their attention back to each other. They took a moment to reflect on the encounter with Domo, Šime categorically reassuring Dejan that he was trustworthy. He told him funny tales of Domo’s antics, how the team had a running trend of yelling “Domo, no” only to be hit with “DOMO, YES” and an amplified version of whatever he was about to do in the first place, and Dejan began to feel more at ease. He also found himself internally thanking Domo for giving him a perfect segue into the conversation he _really_ wanted to be having.

“So that’s Domo,” chuckled Dejan lightly, “what are your other teammates like? I saw one guy, on the boat, he’s quite small and slim, and completely flawless.”

Šime laughed. “I love how you said that so matter-of-factly.”

“Because it’s a matter of fact,” smiled Dejan.

Šime nodded and smiled. “His name is Luka. He’s the captain of the team. He’s funny, but not in the same way as Domo. He’s very sweet and caring, but he’s full of passion and fire, especially on the pitch – the football pitch. He’s one of the greatest football players in the world, and for sure one of the best people too. You made a good choice.”

Dejan’s face fell. “Did I though? I mean, sure, he sounds even more perfect than he looks. But what use is perfection when you can never see it again?”

Šime absentmindedly played with his hair as he thought hard about what to do.

“I made you a promise the first time we met that I wouldn’t tell anyone about you,” Šime said in a voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t want to break that promise, but… I’d like to tell Luka. I’d like to bring him here, tomorrow night, to meet you.”

Dejan fought his immediate urge to yell no and flee, instead reaching out to Šime and taking both of his hands. “I trust you, Šime,” he said. “If you’re sure he won’t… you know…freak out in any way, I’d love to meet him, even if it’s just so I can tell him how much he changed my life without even knowing I exist. Yes… yes. Tell him.”

Šime nodded, and squeezed Dejan’s hands in his. “I don’t know how I’m gonna do this, brate,” he admitted. “But I’ll try my best for you.”

With that, the two said goodbye and Dejan disappeared once more into the depths while Šime turned and walked back to his hotel, his head spinning and heart rate through the roof.


	4. Chapter 4

While Dejan wanted to leap, shout and tell every merperson who would listen about the possible meeting with the beautiful man he now knew to be named Luka, he knew deep down that it was unlikely.

How would Šime even raise the issue?! “Hey captain? Just thought you should know that a merman is in love with you.” There’s no non-ridiculous way to say that, thought Dejan, slowly accepting the fact he would never see either of them again.

He spent the day in a vast reef, hiding among rocks, plucking seaweed and watching it float away, using a razor shell to carve the name LUKA into the wooden bottom of what he assumed was a capsized rowboat, over and over, until his brother found him.

“It’s 10pm,” Davor said, keeping a cautious distance as if approaching a wounded animal. “Did something go wrong?”

“It’s useless, bro,” sighed Dejan. “I should have listened to you in the first place. If you’re here to gloat, please just fucking save it.”

He looked up and saw that his brother’s face was confused, maybe even hurt, rather than the smug smirk he’d expected.

“I actually came to tell you I broke the surface to see if I could see you, and I couldn’t, but I did see your friend Šime. And he’s with someone who looks an awful lot like he has spun gold for hair.”

With that, he shrugged and swam off. Dejan yelled an emotional “hvala” after him before flying through the water towards the pier. When he surfaced, he caught Šime’s eye, and the curly haired man’s concerned face softened into a smile, then a huge grin.

Dejan approached them slowly, watching Luka, praying that he didn’t run. As he got closer, Luka reached out his hand and pulled Dejan through the water closer to him. “So you’re real,” he whispered. “It’s… truly amazing to meet you. I’m Luka Modrić.”

“Dejan Lovren,” the merman responded, tightening his grip on Luka’s hands. “And I’m equally amazed to meet you.”

A million questions raced through Luka’s mind, but he didn’t have the words to articulate them. He could only gaze into Dejan’s face in sheer awe. He took in the tanned complexion, the deep brown eyes, the warm yet dazzling smile and slick black hair, while the merman stared, equally transfixed, at him.

Both forgot momentarily that Šime was present, both men aware only of the other’s beauty, Luka in disbelief and Dejan in pure euphoria. After a few seconds, Šime cleared his throat subtly, snapping his friends back to reality.

Šime introduced them both, telling each amusing stories and fun facts about the other, fully aware that most of the time they were barely listening. The hours passed, and before too long Dejan felt the tide start to go out.

“I have to go,” he said, feeling a lump in his throat. “You said you leave in a few days, so if  I never see you again, I want you to know a few things. Firstly, that you changed everything I thought I knew about myself, about humans, hell, about everything, the first time I saw you. Secondly, that tonight has been the single best night of my life, and if I could relive it over and over forever, I would. And lastly, that I love you. I love you so much it hurts, Luka. And I know it sounds crazy, because we just met tonight, but it’s true. You have no idea how much I love you.”

A tear rolled down Luka’s cheek. “I don’t know about forever, dragi. But we can relive it tomorrow, if you want to. Meet me back here, I’m sure Šime won’t mind staying back at the hotel for a night, right Šime?”

Šime laughed. “Of course not. I wouldn’t want to intrude,” he grinned.

Dejan pulled himself up on the pier with one arm and used the other to hug Šime before slipping back into the water. “Then Šime, if this is the last time I see you, I want you to know I’ll be eternally grateful. Thank you for showing me that people aren’t bad – at least not all of them. For all the laughter, for teaching me that Marica song, and most of all, for introducing me to Luka. I’ll never forget you, brate.”

Šime inhaled deeply. “I’ll try to come back to see you before we leave. But if not… thank you for everything too. I don’t think I could forget you if I tried. And if you’re ever looking for me, on the chance that I’m close, you’ll remember the signal, right?”

Dejan nodded. “Aj lajk,” they said in unison, not yelling this time, but softly.

“Goodbye, Šime,” he smiled, and as Šime reached out to him, he took his hand gently one last time before letting go, approaching Luka and placing a hand on his knee.

“And you, ljubavi, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodbye for now.”

Without thinking, Luka leaned forward, so far that Šime grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him from toppling into the water, and kissed Dejan on the lips. Dejan froze in shock for a second, then relaxed, caressing Luka’s hair and returning the kiss. When their lips finally parted, Dejan smiled, his fingers still intertwined in Luka’s hair. “It’s not gold,” he murmured. “Too soft.”

“Huh?” Luka wondered, but Dejan was already gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the course of the following day, Dejan’s family and friends began to miss the cautious Dejan of the day before, who was reluctant to even mention Luka. “Oh, for the love of Poseidon and Amphitrite, Dejo, stop!” cried his cousin eventually. “We get it. He’s beautiful, oh, so beautiful and his hair isn’t actually spun gold it just looks like it and his voice is enchanting and he’s super good at football because he showed you videos –whatever that is - and he has the cheekiest smile and his eyes are the colour of amber and ALRIGHT, WE GET IT!”

Dejan opened his mouth to defend himself, but saw from the facial expressions around him that the young mermaid was not alone in her opinion.

“She has a point, Dej. Pack it in,” boomed his father’s voice from behind a rock somewhere. Dejan nodded in defeat and headed off to the reef. None of his family wanted to disturb him and be subjected to another monologue, so he was given peace to work. He skilfully pulled thin strands of rope from the life buoy on the capsized boat, carved a small piece of wood from a dislodged plank and used the same razor blade he’d used on the boat the previous day to carve carefully. After more tries and more swearing than Dejan would ever admit, it was ready.

“I made him this,” he said proudly, showing the gift to his brother.

“You’d better hurry up then,” grinned Davor. “I mean, you have 10 um…minutes? But I just went up to look around, and it appears Goldilocks is already waiting for you.”

Dejan slapped his brother on the arm with the end of his tail, glaring at him for the Goldilocks comment, but as he swam off, he smiled. _It kinda suits him_ , he thought to himself. He waited until he could see the wooden legs of the pier in front of him and surfaced, breaking through the water and out of the moonlight directly in front of Luka.

Luka gasped, startled, but his face immediately turned to a warm smile as he realised who it was. “Dejan, dragi, you’re here,” he smiled. Dejan attempted to pull himself up to the pier, but Luka stopped him, pushing him gently back into the water.

Dejan raised one eyebrow in confusion, but suddenly understood as Luka took off his red and white checked jersey and left it folded on the pier. He stood up and took a few steps back before running and diving gracefully into the water. When he came back up, Dejan swam to him and pulled him close.

Luka wrapped his legs around Dejan’s waist and rested his head in the crook of his neck. “You spend hours over there talking to us,” he explained. “I thought the least I could do was come for a swim. Spend some time in your comfort zone.”

Dejan chuckled, kissing Luka’s wet hair. “Anything near you is my comfort zone. Here, I made you this.” Luka pulled away from Dejan and inspected the object he was holding out. He found that it was a bracelet, woven with red and white rope, holding a tiny driftwood plate with their initials carved into it.

“It’s beautiful,” breathed Luka, grinning widely while Dejan tied it around his wrist before kissing him softly on the lips.

Luka was fascinated by Dejan’s body and soon took to studiously tracing Dejan’s tattoos, asking first how they did that underwater – _“Squid ink and an artistic witch,” Dejan had explained nonchalantly, Luka quickly got over the witch part but was less impressed with how unfair it was that Dejan was heavily tattooed without the use of a single needle_ – then about the meaning of each one, gazing in awe at Dejan while he told the stories of family members, religious deities and adventures across the seven seas.

The two swam together, Dejan alternating between carrying Luka through the water and showing off with elaborate dives and flicks of the tail, talking about everything from Luka’s suspicion that Domo and another of his teammates, someone he called “Mandzo,” were secretly in love, to the difference in politics between land and sea, to religion, and finally, unable to dodge the issue any more, their own relationship.

Luka broached the subject first. “I wish I could come, somehow, and stay with you, but I can’t, for one thing-“ Dejan interrupted Luka with a finger on his lips.

“Lukita, I wouldn’t let you. Football is your life, and you’re amazing at it. You have such an awesome life on land, I wouldn’t let you give that up for me. I love you too much. I want you to be happy, and I know you wouldn’t be, here. Even I’m not happy here,” he admitted quietly.

“Is there any way you could… no, never mind,” sighed Luka.

Dejan shook his head. “I know what you were going to say. And I’d love to. I’d love to live in your world, with you, learn to play football and spend the rest of my life with you. But it doesn’t work like that. The maids who can do that… who could turn me human, they work for the King. And the King doesn’t like losing us to the land, so he has this ‘one for one’ law. If one of us moves to the land, a land person has to take our place in the sea. The spell effectively takes a merperson and a human and swaps them. It can’t be done one-way.”

Tears began to flood down Luka’s face. Dejan desperately tried to wipe them away, but soon gave up and held his precious Lukita close, crying with him. When there were no tears left to fall, Luka opened his eyes and saw the first hint of red on the horizon.

“The sun is coming up,” he whispered. Then, suddenly, his voice raised. “How will I get back to the pier?!”

Dejan caressed his face gently. “I’ll take you as far as I can, and show you where to go,” he smiled.

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Luka croaked, his arms around Dejan’s neck and his legs around his waist.

“I know,” said Dejan, his own voice cracking. “But you’re…” he squeezed his eyes shut, begging himself not to cry again. “You’re leaving tonight. And if you don’t go before morning, your team will come looking for you.”

Luka nodded. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said, looking into Dejan’s eyes. “Well, simultaneously the best and the worst. My heart is breaking right now, but all I can think is how lucky I am to have met someone who makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Dejan smiled, feeling tears welling in his eyes again. “I loved you from the moment I set eyes on you,” he told Luka, running his fingers through his wet hair. “When I met you, on the pier with Šime, I loved you even more. And now, I love you more than I have the words to describe. You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and that voice that lured me to the surface that day will echo in my mind forever. You are my everything, Luka.”

He pulled Luka close and kissed him for what they both knew was the last time. Maybe it was the pain in their hearts, but they kissed like they needed to be kissed, desperately, as if they were aching all over. Finally, they parted, both fighting back tears, and with one last kiss, Dejan swam quickly through the water, pulling Luka with him, until he could go no further. Luka put his feet down and found that he was now only waist deep in the water.

In the faint pink light of the sunrise, they could see the pier in the distance.

“Your shirt is up there,” smiled Dejan, “although I’m sure no one would complain if you decided to go without it…”

“Shut up, budalo,” sniffed Luka with a reluctant smile.

Dejan took Luka’s hand and gently touched the bracelet on his wrist. “Keep this,” he said softly. “So you don’t forget me.”

“Forget you? Dejane, dragi, there are so many reasons why that would be impossible,” he smiled, before bending down to kiss Dejan’s lips once again.

“Goodbye, my love,” whispered Dejan, and Luka sighed, biting his lip so hard he thought it might bleed to try to stop the tears from falling again.

“Goodbye, Dejan. However far away, I’ll always be with you. I promise you that. I’ll love you for as long as I live.”

With that, he turned and walked away, finally allowing the tears to flow down his face. Dejan held it together for a few seconds longer, but as he watched the figure of the man he loved move further out of reach, he finally gave in with a choked sob as he turned and slipped away into the current.


	6. Chapter 6

When Dejan got home, his family were frantic. “Where were you? We thought you were hurt. What happened? Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?”

The questions swirled around Dejan’s head, and he didn’t have the words to answer any of them. “I’m fine,” he lied, and swam off. He headed to the reef, but as he settled beside the boat, he saw his own scratched handwriting. LUKA, LUKA, LUKA, LUKA LOVREN, DL & LM, over and over. He punched the side of the boat and cried out in pain before taking off to find another place to rest.

Eventually he settled in a cove, watching fish swim by, absent mindedly singing the song Šime taught him until he fell asleep.

He was awoken by his cousin tapping his chest with the tip of her tail. “Wakey wakey!” she smiled, but Dejan saw sadness in her eyes. Reasoning that she was just upset because he was, he returned her smile.

“Come on,” she cried, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the opening of the cove. “We’ve been looking everywhere, you don’t have much time!”

Dejan didn’t have a chance to question her as they cut through the water like torpedoes, back to his family. As soon as he approached his family he was tackled in a tight hug by his mother, then his brother and father joined from each side. Dejan looked at his brother in confusion, and saw that he was crying.

“What’s happening here?” Dejan asked quietly.

“We’re going to miss you, that’s all,” said his mother, and he could tell by her voice that she was crying too. Dejan fought his way out of the group hug.

“Miss me?” he asked, but before anyone had a chance to answer, he was taken by the hand by a young mermaid with a decorative veil over her face that told him immediately she was one of the King’s enchantresses.

“You have five minutes to wrap this up, Mr. Lovren,” she said. “I’ve already cast the spell, I did it when your friend volunteered himself, so any minute now you’re going to grow legs and, you know, not be able to breathe down here any more.”

Dejan shook his head in an attempt to clear away some of the confusion.

“Are you saying…”

“I’m saying,” snapped the enchantress, “that you got your wish. You’re going to live up there. That is if you want to, I could still counteract-“

“NO!” Dejan cried. “No, please don’t counteract anything. Thank you,” he wept, pulling her into a hug before embracing his parents and brother for the last time.

“I love you all so much. I’ll find you all again, I promise,” he said, before taking off through the water with one last goodbye, towards the surface. Towards the pier.

_I don’t understand_ , he thought to himself. _Surely Luka wouldn’t. It would be pointless. It would just reverse the situation. But who else…_

His train of thought was interrupted by a searing pain in his lower half. He dug his fingernails into the wooden leg of the pier, breathing deeply until the pain stopped. When it did, he looked down to find he had two long, tanned, muscular legs.

He pulled himself up onto the pier and stood up slowly, shakily, and took his first steps. Surprised how naturally it came to him, he took a few more, watching his feet with fascination as he paced back and forth.

“If I were you I’d stop that, take the clothes I left there for you, put them on and get to the hotel across the road before he leaves,” called a voice from the water. “Room 909.”

Dejan  spun around, stumbling over his own feet, and looked out to sea. He saw a familiar face in the warm light of the sunset, but what wasn’t so familiar was the long, crimson red tail that shimmered beneath the surface of the water. Dejan stammered, trying to find the words to say, to ask why, to ask if he was sure, to thank him a million times.

But before he had a chance, his saviour was gone, invisible apart from a glint of red fading like a ruby disappearing into the depths, but not before saying the only two words that needed to be said in that moment.

“ _Aj lajk_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone unfamiliar with some of the phrases used in this work:
> 
> "SIME! GDJE SI? NEMA TE... AJ LAJK" translates to "Sime, where are you, you're not here... AJ LAJK"  
> It was taken from a video Lovren posted on Instagram of him swimming in the sea, looking through binoculars and yelling that. 
> 
> Aj lajk is their way of spelling/saying "I like" and appears to be an inside joke between Lovren and Vrsaljko, as evidenced countless times on their Instagram profiles.


End file.
